


A Ticking Clock and a Turning Toppat

by Little_Plants_Love



Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Betrayal, Dmitri starts off wanting to kill Wallace and ends up adopting him instead, Held at Gunpoint, Other, Sort Of, dadmitri, it's complicated - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29726541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Plants_Love/pseuds/Little_Plants_Love
Summary: “If your cover’s not blown tonight, we can have you and everyone else out by the end of the week.”The words kept echoing through Wallace’s mind as he stumbled through the halls of The Wall, blindly steering his numb body towards the warden’s office. Three years ago, those words would have been all he wanted to hear, but now? Now, they were the last words he wanted to come through that phone speaker. He’d made his decision, after months of stressing over it.Now, he just had to hope he wasn’t killed on the spot.
Kudos: 16





	A Ticking Clock and a Turning Toppat

“If your cover’s not blown tonight, we can have you and everyone else out by the end of the week.”

The words kept echoing through Wallace’s mind as he stumbled through the halls of The Wall, blindly steering his numb body towards the warden’s office. Three years ago, those words would have been all he wanted to hear, but now? Now, they were the last words he wanted to come through that phone speaker. He’d made his decision, after months of stressing over it. 

Now, he just had to hope he wasn’t killed on the spot.

The fear didn’t fully hit him until he’d already opened the door. As soon as he saw Dmitri, standing beside his desk at his full height, looking at the guard with an unreadable expression, Wallace froze. A few moments passed, and the warden softened ever so slightly, tilting his head to the side. “Yes, Pemberton?” His voice was unamused and he moved a hand from behind his back to be resting on the wooden desk, his fingers drumming impatiently. Wallace swallowed and stepped further into the office, closing the door behind him with shaking hands. Once the door was closed, he swallowed again before willing his voice into existence.

“I have something I need to say, Sir." “Go on then. Say it.” Dmitri waved dismissively as he spoke, turning to straighten some of the papers on his desk whilst tapping his foot impatiently. Wallace hesitated for only a moment before the words came pouring out of him, the walls he had built to keep the guilt and sorrow at bay shattering.

“I was a Toppat spy, Sir. I was sent by the Toppats to gather intel and help them plan an escape. They plan to move in early tomorrow, while the guards are switching. I don’t want this to happen, Sir. They abandoned me here with hardly a word for years, and now that they need human shields to make their plans work, they just expect me to save their asses and risk my own in the process. The staff here- the guards, the cleaners, hell, even you- they’re family to me, much more so than the Toppats ever were. I want their plans to fail, Sir. I know you’ll probably just kill me, but please, I want to prove myself. I want to stop those fuckers from escaping, and I want to be a loyal guard of The Wall. Please, Dmitri.” Wallace kept his head low and his body tensed as he finished his speech, his eyes screwed shut as he readied himself to be attacked. Dmitri merely gawked at him for a few long moments, hurt and betrayal swirling in his eyes, before his expression hardened into one of hate.   
In one fluid movement, the warden drew his pistol and pressed the barrel against the top of Wallace’s head, his blue eyes narrowed into a harsh glare that could kill. 

“Prove it, then. If it’s not suitable, I will kill you. If you're lying to me, I will kill you. If you try to escape, I will kill you.” “Understood. I still have my hat. I’ll burn it. Burn it and grind my heel in the ashes.” Wallace winced as Dmitri grabbed his arm roughly and began all but dragging him out of the office, the barrel of the pistol still pressed against his head. It was a long, shameful walk to the quarters where Wallace had been staying- but, luckily enough for the younger man’s dignity, the halls were almost completely empty.

Dmitri shoved Wallace into the small guard’s quarters, watching him like a hawk with his pistol leveled to the young man’s head as Wallace pulled his top hat from its hidden place under a false bottom- the bright orange material dusty from lack of use. He grabbed a box of matches from a small box under his bed then stood, refusing to make eye contact as Dmitri once more grabbed him and dragged him away.

As soon as the two made it outside and safely away from any of the vehicles, Wallace threw the hat on the ground, fumbling the matches with shaking hands for a few moments before managing to light one. He drew in a deep breath, overly aware of the gun pressed to his head, before dropping the match onto the discarded hat. He watched in grim silence as the fabric caught, and he dared to shift away from Dmitri enough to spit onto the dying ashes and kick snow over them when the time came. 

Dmitri let out a grunt and slowly put away his pistol as Wallace turned to face him, the two finally making eye contact. “Tell me more about their plans. If you lie, I won’t hesitate to end you. If you don't, then we'll see how loyal you really turn out to be."

It had been five years since Wallace had admitted to being a Toppat spy. At the time, he was certain it would be the thing to get him killed. Now, though, he thought of it as the best decision he ever made- and it was easy to think so, gathered in the living room with his family. Dmitri, stretched out on the couch between Hubert and Grigori, whist Charles perched on the counter and Wallace himself having claimed the recliner. They were a family, and as they laughed and joked while watching a movie, it was hard to imagine that any of them had ever been on opposite sides.


End file.
